Has ‘The Little Pea’ been a big success at West Ham United?
HITC are using the international break to analyse who has been worth every penny, and who has been a waste of money.
Here we take a closer look at West Ham United’s signing of proven poacher Javier Hernandez.
The Hammers have brought in a remarkable 32 strikers since co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold took control of the club in 2010, of which a 29-year-old Chicharito undoubtedly had the best pedigree.
The Mexican came relatively cheap, too – costing only £16m from Bayer Leverkusen, according to Sky Sports.
He has not started his Hammers career as prolifically as he has been elsewhere, with four goals in 11 league games.
In two seasons at Leverkusen, Hernandez averaged a league goal every 142 minutes – what Romelu Lukaku averages for Manchester United this season. At Old Trafford, it was a league goal every 130 minutes.
So far for the Hammers, the penalty box predator is striking at a league goal every 226 minutes, which is a little underwhelming, but he can still be the goalscoring prince that they need after kissing so many frogs.
New boss David Moyes needs to find the right formula to get the best out of Hernandez, and it shouldn’t take him long because he managed the Mexico international at United, although he was never first choice.
Slaven Bilic asked Hernandez to do too much outside of the box, even deploying him on the wing occasionally to accommodate Andy Carroll, even though all of his 41 Premier League goals have come from inside the area.
A partnership of Carroll and Hernandez will help Chicharito reach the heights that were expected of him.
Grade: C+
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